The 2017 hurricane season showed that Caribbean nations urgently need more resilient power grids. But the effects of climate change – including more severe storms – complicate the shift to renewables.

Some 17,000 U.S. troops aided in the Caribbean relief effort after hurricanes Irma and Maria. That’s roughly equivalent to the U.S. military’s humanitarian mission in the Philippines after Typhoon Hiyan in 2013.
U.S. Department of AgricultureMarch 30, 2018

Crypto billionaires enjoy their Caribbean playground but poorer locals with little knowledge of the tech are excluded.

Puerto Rico’s power utility, PREPA, has been decimated by years of scarcity and bad management. But will privatizing it really turn the lights back on for Puerto Ricans?
AP Photo/Carlos GiustiFebruary 7, 2018

Thanks to Hurricane Maria, some US hospitals are experiencing a saline shortage. In times of emergency, medical supply chains break down too easily.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency deleted — but later restored — key statistics on its web page about the percentage of Puerto Ricans living without drinking water and electricity. In this photo from October 2017, Roberto Figueroa Caballero sits in his wall-less home after Hurricane Maria devastated the island.
(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)January 3, 2018

Two hurricanes in Puerto Rico's past fundamentally transformed the island's economy and politics. Maria will be the third, says a historian.

Hurricane Maria denuded forests in Puerto Rico, revealing once-hidden homes and communities. A graffiti-sprayed saying is now popping up across the island, noting that “Behind the trees live people.”
Lucas Jackson/ReutersOctober 26, 2017